Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation
Changing environmental and geomorphological conditions are resulting in vegetation change in ice-wedge polygons in Arctic tundra. However, we do not yet know how microscale vegetation patterns relate to individual environmental and geomorphological parameters. This work aims at examining these relat...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/3271 2024-09-09T19:23:03+00:00 Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation Wolter, Juliane Lantuit, Hugues Fritz, Michael Macias-Fauria, Marc Myers-Smith, Isla Herzschuh, Ulrike 2016-06-17 application/pdf text/html application/epub+zip application/xml https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8737 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8738 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8739 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8740 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8745 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271 doi:10.3402/polar.v35.27489 Polar Research; Vol 35 (2016) 1751-8369 Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2016 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 2024-06-20T23:33:17Z Changing environmental and geomorphological conditions are resulting in vegetation change in ice-wedge polygons in Arctic tundra. However, we do not yet know how microscale vegetation patterns relate to individual environmental and geomorphological parameters. This work aims at examining these relations in polygonal terrain. We analysed composition and cover of vascular plant taxa and surface height, active layer depth, soil temperature, carbon and nitrogen content, pH and electrical conductivity in four polygon mires located on the Yukon coast. We found that vascular plant species composition and cover correlates best with relative surface height. Ridges of low-centred polygons and raised centres of high-centred polygons support the growth of mesic and wetland species (e.g., Betula glandulosa, Salix pulchra, S. reticulata, Rubus chamaemorus, various ericaceous dwarf shrubs, Eriophorum vaginatum, Poa arctica). Wetland and aquatic plant species (e.g., E. angustifolium, Carex aquatilis, C. chordorrhiza, Pedicularis sudetica) grow in low-lying centres of polygons and in troughs between polygons. We also found a relationship between vascular plant species composition and substrate characteristics such as pH, electrical conductivity and total organic carbon, although the individual influence of these parameters could not be determined because of their correlation with relative surface height. Our findings stress the regulatory role of microtopography and substrate in vegetation dynamics of polygonal terrain. Ongoing warming in this region will lead to changes to polygonal terrain through permafrost degradation and subsequent conversion of low-centred into high-centred polygons. Our results indicate that shrubs, particularly Betula glandulosa and heath species, have the potential to expand most.Keywords: Ice-wedge polygon mires; western Canadian Arctic; modern vegetation; microtopography; permafrost.(Published: 17 June 2016)To access the supplementary material for this article, please see the supplementary files in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Carex aquatilis Eriophorum Ice permafrost Polar Research Rubus chamaemorus Tundra wedge* Yukon Polar Research Arctic Canada Yukon Polar Research 35 1 27489 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Polar Research |
op_collection_id |
ftjpolarres |
language |
English |
topic |
Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost |
spellingShingle |
Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost Wolter, Juliane Lantuit, Hugues Fritz, Michael Macias-Fauria, Marc Myers-Smith, Isla Herzschuh, Ulrike Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
topic_facet |
Ice-wedge polygon mires western Canadian Arctic modern vegetation microtopography permafrost |
description |
Changing environmental and geomorphological conditions are resulting in vegetation change in ice-wedge polygons in Arctic tundra. However, we do not yet know how microscale vegetation patterns relate to individual environmental and geomorphological parameters. This work aims at examining these relations in polygonal terrain. We analysed composition and cover of vascular plant taxa and surface height, active layer depth, soil temperature, carbon and nitrogen content, pH and electrical conductivity in four polygon mires located on the Yukon coast. We found that vascular plant species composition and cover correlates best with relative surface height. Ridges of low-centred polygons and raised centres of high-centred polygons support the growth of mesic and wetland species (e.g., Betula glandulosa, Salix pulchra, S. reticulata, Rubus chamaemorus, various ericaceous dwarf shrubs, Eriophorum vaginatum, Poa arctica). Wetland and aquatic plant species (e.g., E. angustifolium, Carex aquatilis, C. chordorrhiza, Pedicularis sudetica) grow in low-lying centres of polygons and in troughs between polygons. We also found a relationship between vascular plant species composition and substrate characteristics such as pH, electrical conductivity and total organic carbon, although the individual influence of these parameters could not be determined because of their correlation with relative surface height. Our findings stress the regulatory role of microtopography and substrate in vegetation dynamics of polygonal terrain. Ongoing warming in this region will lead to changes to polygonal terrain through permafrost degradation and subsequent conversion of low-centred into high-centred polygons. Our results indicate that shrubs, particularly Betula glandulosa and heath species, have the potential to expand most.Keywords: Ice-wedge polygon mires; western Canadian Arctic; modern vegetation; microtopography; permafrost.(Published: 17 June 2016)To access the supplementary material for this article, please see the supplementary files in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wolter, Juliane Lantuit, Hugues Fritz, Michael Macias-Fauria, Marc Myers-Smith, Isla Herzschuh, Ulrike |
author_facet |
Wolter, Juliane Lantuit, Hugues Fritz, Michael Macias-Fauria, Marc Myers-Smith, Isla Herzschuh, Ulrike |
author_sort |
Wolter, Juliane |
title |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_short |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_full |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_fullStr |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Vegetation composition and shrub extent on the Yukon coast, Canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
title_sort |
vegetation composition and shrub extent on the yukon coast, canada, are strongly linked to ice-wedge polygon degradation |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Yukon |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Yukon |
genre |
Arctic Carex aquatilis Eriophorum Ice permafrost Polar Research Rubus chamaemorus Tundra wedge* Yukon |
genre_facet |
Arctic Carex aquatilis Eriophorum Ice permafrost Polar Research Rubus chamaemorus Tundra wedge* Yukon |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol 35 (2016) 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8737 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8738 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8739 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8740 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271/8745 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3271 doi:10.3402/polar.v35.27489 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v35.27489 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
35 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
27489 |
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1809763395290791936 |